Gives Owner First Featherlite Title

Barry's driver at the time, Mike Ewanitsko, put up numbers that normally would have locked up the title. But Ewanitsko's four wins, 12 top-five finishes and 19 top 10s in 22 races wasn't even comparable to the exploits of Stefanik, who won a series-record 13 races and finished out of the top four only two times.

It left Barry, an owner on the Modified Series since its inception in 1985, wondering if he would ever win that first title.

With Stefanik returning to the Modified Series this season -- after two years in the Craftsman Truck and Busch Series -- Barry made sure the Coventry, R.I., driver wouldn't be able to take another title away from him: He hired Stefanik to drive his car.

And Sunday, Stefanik made up for breaking Barry's heart in 1998 by getting him his first title.

Stefanik, who came into the season-ending event holding a 20-point lead over Jerry Marquis and John Blewett III, finished second in the XtraMart World Series of Speedway Racing 125 before 12,000 at Thompson International Speedway to capture his record fifth series title.

``It's all about Art Barry,'' Stefanik said. ``Four, five, it doesn't matter to me. This was for Art. ... All the guys down South that I go and talk to, they say they want you but then they say, `What can you do for me? I don't know if you can cut it or maybe we need a young guy.' It's nice when someone says, `With you in my car, my chances to win a championship are increased.' I know it's not [the] Busch [Series] and it's not Winston Cup, but it's nice to be wanted like I was from Art.''

For Barry, a car owner since 1952, the day was made even more emotional when he was awarded the first Sonny ``The King'' Richards Award by the racing media for dedication to Modified racing.

Richards, of East Hartford, a former racing journalist, longtime follower of the Series and the man many called the ``Goodwill ambassador of the Modified Series'' died July 22.

``This is for The King,'' said Barry, of Preston. ``He was an excellent man. It was priceless to win the award in his honor, the man meant so much to me, and then to win the championship on top of that for him, words can't describe what I'm feeling. It just couldn't get any better.''

Ted Christopher of Plainville held off Stefanik over the closing laps for his second Featherlite victory in three weeks and the sixth of his career.

``This car was awesome,'' said Christopher, who also won 15 SK Modified races at Thompson this year. ``I definitely know the path to victory lane here.''

Marquis, the defending series champion from East Windsor, finished third.

``We did everything we could do,'' Marquis said. ``We just couldn't find the edge. Mike had to have some bad luck. Luck is the name of the game sometimes. I settled in behind him and I just wanted to keep the pressure on him and see if he'd make a mistake, but Mike's too good for that.''

``The announcer could have driven that car to the win,'' said Fuller, who started 23rd. ``I wish my Modified was half as a good.''

Phil Rondeau of Baltic finished third, holding off second-place finisher Jeff Connors of Ellington for the division title. ... Scott Cook of Uncasville, who finished two points out of the Strictly Stock championship last year, redeemed himself, clinching his first track championship by virtue of his sixth-place finish in the 20-lap feature.

``That two points last year was a killer,'' Cook said. ``But that was also the motivator. That was the way we looked at it all winter.''